Falling For Seconds

Chapter Fourteen

  Three knock on the door sent me running. "Who is it?" I called. The apartment was nothing like my old one, but I couldn't complain, because it was all mine.
  "Levi."
  The voice answered and quickly I unlocked the deadbolt and the chain. I pull the door slightly open, still apprehensive about his brother knowing if I had moved, but Levi's sly smile melted all those fears away. "Hey! How did you get up here?"
  "Dale unlocked the back door," he responded. "I brought some things to celebrate you getting a place of your own." I smiled, opening the door wide enough so he could walk in before following him to the kitchen. He sat a six pack of glass bottles and a clear bottle on the counter next to a plastic bag with two big square boxes inside.
  "There's a back door?" I asked, more to myself.
  "Do you have a bottle opener?" He asked, his hands rummaging through the kitchen drawers.
  "I don't think so, but I've only been here for barely a day." Levi made an 'o' shape with his lips before continuing his search.
  "I'm sure the people who lived here before had to have had a...here it is!" He held up the thin, metal bottle opener in triumph before grabbing two beer bottles and popping the tops off both of them.    
  "Here," he says handing me one of the bottles. I grab it, my body already recoiling at the thought of taking a sip.
  Levi studied me. "Don't tell me Daddy's little princess hasn't ever drank before..."
  "I have drank, thank you very much!" I defend. Levi let out a small laugh as my face folds in on itself when the hoppy liquid washed its way down my throat.
  "I will never understand why people like this stuff." I set the beer back on the counter and wiped my mouth with my sweater sleeve. He walks over to me and lifts my chin with his hand, "over time you grow found of it."
  Was he talking about the beer or us? I lift myself onto my tiptoes to plant a kiss to his lips. I'll take it as a reference to him and I.
  "You're only wearing this sweater?" he asks suggestively.
  "You don't like what I'm wearing?" I question while pulling at the thick fabric covering my torso.
  "No bra? No pants? No, I don't like what you're wearing."
  "Hm, well I don't like what you're wearing either." I stated, taking a step back as he examined his own outfit. "I don't like your jacket and I definitely don't like those shoes."
  My fingers lightly touch the thin fabric that laid over his chest and Levi arched an eyebrow at me. In one fell swoop he slipped out of his jacket and laid it on the small island behind him. His copper eyes danced playfully as he stared at me and his lip ring was caught purposefully between his teeth. I had him right where I wanted him. He takes a small step forward.
  "Let's do shots! I mean we are celebrating, right?" My nervousness gets the best of me as I slip away from his presence.
  "You don't like beer, but you want to take shots of vodka?" His shoulders fall. My movements were fluid and graceful as I made my way to the other side of the kitchen. My hands grabbed and unscrewed the top of the vodka bottle. I put the tip to my mouth and took three huge swigs.
  My throat burned as I continued to take gulp after gulp, but I didn't stop. "Hadley, you're going to throw up. Slow down," Levi commanded,taking the bottle from me. His voice was protective but then he took the same amount of drinks before handing it back.
  "Cheers," I voiced before taking another mouthful. He looked so amused by what I was doing. I liked the way he was looking at me.
  "So," he said, taking the bottle away. He then walked over the the old, dusty couch eyeing apprehensively before heaving his body onto the cushions. A plume of dust rose into the air surrounding the man as he coughed and batted the cloud around him.
  "I think you need a new couch." He spoke between gasps and I giggled. "As I was saying, how are you feeling?"
  I surveyed my surroundings. "I'm not drunk, yet."
  "No, I meant how are you with all that's happened with your family."
  "Oh, that." I started but what do I say? I wasn't exactly thrilled, but I did have a giant weight lifted off my back. My fingers fumble with the hem of my sweater. "I'm still processing it all."
  Levi craned his neck at me. "What's there to process?"
  I sighed. There really wasn't any further processing needed. I was next to take a seat against the dusty cushions.
"I thought about needing to do this all summer. The whole first year of college was spent under the thumb of my parents and when summer came and classes ended I thought I would get some peace, but I only found that I was more out of place than before."
I took another sip. Levi didn't say a word. "I never thought it would be like this. I say what happened to my sister and the fight I had to have to be able to go to community college, but for some reason I thought it would be different."
There was a fire igniting in my lower belly, was it the lack of nourishment or the intense consumption of alcohol? "I just never thought it would truly come to this. So, I'm still in denial, I guess. Still processing what I've actually done."